


Sins Of The Mother

by metaphoricallylivin



Series: Earth 25: Oh, Yeah I'm An Ugly Mess [9]
Category: DCU
Genre: Battle for The Cowl And RIP Batman Rewrite, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Multi, This Gets Really Dark, Trans Characters, autistic characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-11-03 12:03:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10966836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/metaphoricallylivin/pseuds/metaphoricallylivin
Summary: Freelance killed Batman. They need a plan, a game plan, a way to change it all.





	1. They Got My Blood Up In Their Veins

**Author's Note:**

> TW for attempted rape, violence, fucked up shit, and death.
> 
> Chapter title from Family by Mother Mother

Everyone was in the batcave, the whole room felt tense and Toby was rocking a little to keep his cool. He didn't want to have a meltdown, he didn't even know Bruce that well. It wasn't his place to be upset.

 

“I say we find who did this and kill them. No mercy,” Damian said. Toby had only met Damian twice, once as part of the welcoming committee at Gotham Academy and another time when Duke and him had had a sleepover. The kid seemed lethal though.

 

“No killing. Remember what Bruce has been trying to teach you,” Dick said. 

 

Damian made a noise, somewhere between a scoff and a heavy sigh, before returning the sword he was holding to the rack of them behind him.

 

Babs and Leelah were there, along with Red Robin, Alfred, Steph, Duke, Cass, Kate, and Luke. Toby felt out of place, everyone else was either crying or looked like they had been, sans Damian, meanwhile he was tear free. Bruce had never been nice to him, the few times they'd met he'd either ignored Toby or treated him as incompetent.

 

“Who is going to be Batman?” Duke asked. His helmet was off, tucked under his arm, tears were making their way down his cheeks despite his efforts to wipe them away.

 

There was silence. No one said anything and no one moved.

 

“I've readied some rooms for all of you. All of you could use some sleep,” Alfred said. Everyone nodded and slowly headed up into the manor.

 

* * *

 

Duke had bunkbeds so Toby slept in his room. Duke had 7 pillows piled up on the top bunk with only one on the bottom bunk. Duke handed Toby one off the top bunk.

 

“You okay?” Toby asked.

 

“Yeah, I'm just a little sad. I mean like… Bruce won't stay dead. He's fucking Batman y’know?” Duke said. Batman was immortal, invulnerable, stronger than anyone else in the family. His death didn't make sense to Duke.

 

“Yeah. Let's just go to sleep and maybe after we get some rest we'll feel better. We can work all this shit tomorrow,” Toby said. Duke had let him borrow a tank top and he kept a pair of clean boxers in one of the pockets in his suit. Clean underwear was a must and sometimes they'd get stuck places where it was hard to change all their clothes.

 

Duke nodded and they both settled into the beds. Toby pulled the covers up as far as possible and tried to disappear into them. It had been a night and he wanted nothing more than to sleep. Sleep sounded like the best thing in the world to him. He dozed off listening to the even breathing of Duke above him.

 

* * *

 

All Toby could hear was laughing, all he could feel was pain. He could see green vapors floating through the air and the whole room smelt of burnt rubber.

 

His legs were bare, he knew this because he could feel a chemical burn forming on his left thigh. He felt helpless, his body was limp and he wanted to curl up and cry. He was laughing so hard that despite having no control over his body his limbs were flopping everywhere. He wanted to move, to leave, but he couldn't.

 

The Joker moved towards Toby. The ever present smile was still plastered on his face.

 

“Oh, baby bird, do you want some help?” The Joker asked.

 

Toby couldn't answer, he was laughing too hard, but all he wanted was the Joker to get off him. The Joker stomped on Toby’s burn, making a sickening crack. He laughed as tears welled in Toby’s eyes and he tried to move, leading to an panicked look in his eyes and an attempt at flailing around.

 

“Daddy bird can't save you. Do you wanna know what I did to him?” The Joker asked before moving towards the other side of the room.

 

Toby didn't want to see. He wanted to be home, he wanted his knife in his hand and control of his body, he wanted to stab the joker in the neck and watch him bleed out. He’d read what the Joker had done to Jason and Jason was meant to escape, that he was meant to carry the weight of all the shit that happened with him. He hadn't wanted to kill Jason, he'd wanted to destroy him.

 

He picked up a crowbar. He then brought it over his head and brought it down on Toby’s hip as hard as possible. He did this a few more time until he kneeled down next to Toby.

 

“Robin panties, eh?” The Joker said with a sickening grin. Toby realized that the Joker hadn't just taken off his pants, he'd changed Toby into Jason’s old costume.

 

_ Get off me, get off me, get off me. _

 

He could feel the Joker’s hand on his thigh, a couple inches above the burn. A shot rang out and the Joker fell onto Toby.

 

* * *

 

Toby woke up covered in sweat. He hadn't screamed, a fact he was thankful for because he hadn't wanted to wake Duke. He didn't want to talk about what had happened when he'd tried to kill the Joker. That it was his fault Jason left town, that he'd ruined everything.

 

He stumbled out of Duke’s room and down to the Batcave. Beating the shit out of some practice dummies would make him feel better. He could pretend they were the Joker, maybe even take one of Damian’s swords to it's face.

 

When he got into the Batcave he noticed Dick sitting behind the monitor. He was wide awake despite the time. His leg was bouncing up and down in a futile attempt at helping his brain work faster. Across the room Damian was practicing some sort of martial arts. He was a killing machine with no control, he wouldn't do well in the field just yet.

 

“Toby, we need to talk,” Dick said. The look in his eyes was dark and sorrowful, not the sadness, but the knowledge of the complexity associated with the tragedy.

 

“Yeah, um, yeah. We can talk,” Toby said.

 

“I ran the DNA of the woman who killed Bruce. Steph managed to get a bit of her DNA on her batarang. We found a familial match in our system,” Dick said.

 

“That's great, we can go interrogate this person in the morning. Find out everything about Freelance and then,” Toby said.

 

“You're the familial match,” Dick said.

 

“That's impossible,” Toby said. Maybe his mom had a sister or something and she had killed Bruce. Yeah, that was it, it  _ had  _ to be it.

 

“Your mother appears to be Freelance,” Dick said. “Anything you can tell us about her would help immensely.” 

 

“She left when I was two months old. I know I look like her because that's why… my dad did that  _ stuff _ to me. She left and she didn't have the decency to take her two month old son with her, she's a coward,” Toby said.

 

“Please, Toby I know this is hard, but any information could go a long way,” Dick said. Toby noticed the tears welling up in his eyes, he was pleading with Toby. This was his father and Toby’s mother had killed him.

 

“Um, this necklace was hers,” Toby said, reaching around his neck to disengage the clasp and hand it to Dick.

 

“Thank you,” Dick said. He had the Magan David tightly clasped in his hand, the gold chain spilling over the side of his hand.

 

Toby nodded and left for the training room. He chose one of the training dummies and wailed on it, beating it as hard as he could. Every time it bounced back, but with each blow Toby was starting to feel better, even as his knuckles split. The pain simply joined the symphony of suffering.

 

* * *

 

At about 7 am Alfred came down telling all of them they needed to eat. Damian made an unhappy noise before heading upstairs with Dick following. Toby waited a few minutes before going up. There was a large spread of food on the table. Toby made a pile of waffles and vegetarian sausage on his plate. In his opinion vegetarian sausage was much better than meat sausage.

 

Everyone was extremely quiet, no one daring to say anything. There was a feeling of melancholy that spread throughout the room and despite the large amounts of food everyone seemed almost robotic. The thing that had inspired them all was dead and they were lost.

 

Beth was the only one who seemed happy, stuffing pancakes in her mouth and smiling at everyone. She was 4 years old and while she could likely notice the sadness hanging around everyone else, she was ignoring it.

 

“Toby! How are you?” Beth asked.

 

“Good, how're you?” Toby asked, shrugging a little.

 

“Damian said that he's going to teach me how to throw a punch,” Beth said.

 

“Really? That sounds cool. Do you wanna be Robin?” Toby asked.

 

Beth lit up and nodded enthusiastically. Last time they had talked Beth had said that she wanted to be Nightwing, occasionally she would say that she wanted to be Wonder Woman, Batgirl, or Red Robin depending on the week. It was clear that one day Beth would go into the family business

  
  


“What are you doing?” Duke asked. Leelah, Babs, and Cass were next to him.

 

“My mother is Freelance,” Toby said. He'd changed into his Cardinal costume and it was midday.

 

A silence set over them. Toby took the time to finish lacing up his boots.

 

“What are you even doing?” Duke asked.

 

“I'm going to bring her in, this is my burden. She is my mother,” Toby said.

 

“If you're going I'm going,” Leelah said.

 

“No, I'm not letting anyone else get hurt,” Toby tried to sound commanding.

 

“Well we're family, your burden is my burden,” Leelah said.

 

Toby bit his cheek and crossed his arms. He didn't quite know what to say.

 

“I'm coming too,” Duke said.

 

[Me too]

 

“Fine, you guys can come,” Toby said, sighing.

 

Leelah, Cass, and Duke left to change. Babs wheeled over to the Batcomputer.

 

“This isn't your fault,” Babs said. “I know that you feel guilty, but your mom killed Bruce of her own accord.”   
  
“Why can’t my family ever just be good?” Toby asked.

  
“Maybe they weren’t the people who were meant to be your family,” Babs said. “Maybe Jason, Cass, Leelah, Duke, and I were meant to be your family.”


	2. You Fuck With Them, You Fuck With Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title comes from yet again Family by Mother Mother. Listening to it and We Are The Kids by Walk the Moon really sets the mood for this chap.

Toby didn't have any memories of his mother, at least not as someone who took care of and loved him, but he had one he thinks might bring them somewhere. Give them an idea of where she could be. After his father had moved him to Gotham a woman had appeared at their door. She looked so much like Toby, without the red hair and her eyes had flecks of red. Her long black hair was pulled up into a bun. She looked so much different than his father, who hadn't worn anything but pajamas in almost a week.

“Hello, can I please talk to your father?” she asked, leaning down to his level.

“Dad!” Toby yelled.

“You're such a pretty girl, Tobi,” she had said.

Toby had found it odd that she knew his name, she didn't have an accent Toby recognized. It wasn't Gotham, like the woman at the store, or southern, or even midwestern. It sounded almost like it had been stripped of any markers.

“Ruth, what are you doing here?” his father asked, shoving Toby out of the way.

Toby was quickly told to play in his room, that it was grown up talk, but the next morning when his dad had left for work Toby looked around. He found a new box, locked with a key he couldn't find. It was ornate and beautiful. When Toby tried to use a Chuck-E-Cheese card to open it up nothing happened. His father hit him once for fiddling with the box and Toby never looked at it again.

 

* * *

 

“Where do you want to start?” Duke asked. He was wearing the yellow Lark costume, complete with the helmet on.

“The storage unit where my grandmother keeps my father's stuff. We're looking for an ornate box, about the size of a happy meal. I think it's from my mother,” Toby said.

Everyone nodded and Toby headed for the motorcycle he'd used to get over there. It was technically Jason’s, but he'd been allowed to use it since he'd left town. The engine purred under him and he started it off.

Cass and Duke were behind him. Toby had broken into the storage unit before, to retrieve some of the few items he cared about from his father’s house. It wasn't hard. The city flew by them, occasional drivers honking at them before realizing who they were. It was rare for any of the Batfamily to be out during daylight, even rarer for a member of the Red Hood Gang to be out.

Storage unit 301 looked standard, an obnoxious looking orange door with an easily pickable lock. Once they were in the three of them set to work. After a few minutes of searching they found the box. Toby ran his fingers over the box, feeling the ornate carvings and sighing. This was it.

“Cass, you're better at picking locks than me, can you get in here?” Toby asked.

Cass nodded, pulling her lock pick set out of her utility belt. The box was open in under a minute.

The first thing they saw was a ring. It was for a crest of some sort, similar to the one on the top of the box. The crest had a knife and an arrow crossed with a skull underneath, both of the skull’s eyes had rubies inlaid into them. Toby pocketed the ring and moved on. Next there was a knife, distinctive blade. It looked like a hunting knife almost. The final item was a letter. It was enclosed in an envelope labeled “For Tobi’s 16th Birthday”.

Toby placed it into his pocket, he didn't want anyone else to read it. Whatever it said was for him.

“I'm going to take a couple pictures, see what Babs can pick up,” Duke said.

“Good idea,” Toby agreed. They should probably get out of the unit in the next minute or too. It was possible that Freelance had it bugged or something.

“Okay, done. Oracle should have everything traced in a few minutes. She said she'll brief us with the info when she's done,” Duke said. He placed his phone back into his utility belt and the three of them left.

Toby closed the door, every item of his childhood was in that room. He didn't need any of that anymore. Tobi Jacobsen had died so Cardinal could be born.

 

* * *

 

_Dear Tobi,_

_My name is Ruth Levi. I am an assassin, like my mother before me and her mother before her. You are my only daughter, my only child, you will inherit my organization. First you must train. Contact me for the start of your new life. Our training hideout is outside of Gotham, at the Juda Mansion. Make it there on your own and your inheritance awaits you._

_Sincerely,_  
_Your beloved Mother,_  
_Ruth_

 

* * *

 

The first thing Toby did when they got back to the Batcave was access the Batcomputer. He searched the school, finding one result. That was where Batman had died. He'd been investigating a trafficking ring that was kidnapping children and it had all led back to that school. He'd been killed by the woman in charge and Steph had barely been able to escape.

Toby decided it was where he was going to go. In civilian clothes. Going in guns ablaze as Cardinal wouldn't go well. Toby Head could identify himself as the son of Ruth Levi, but Cardinal couldn't.

“Tim, I need to borrow some of your clothes,” Toby said, leaning on the door or his room.

“Why?” Tim asked, not looking up from the tablet in his lap.

“Because I'm going to do some undercover work, I have a lead and I don't have any of my clothes here,” Toby said.

“Fine, but I come with. I'll drive you,” Tim said.

“No, this is my job,” Toby said. He needed the clothes because walking into a school for training assassins in bright red pants and a Mother Mother tank top wasn't the best idea.

“Either I come with you or you have to borrow clothes from Steph,” Tim said.

“Fine, you stay in the car and I go in. If I need you I'll call you on the comms,” Toby said.

“Okay, the clothes are in the closet,” Tim said.

Toby stripped down and changed into a pair of jeans and a Superboy shirt. He placed his shirt and uniform in a pile, placing the contexts of the utility belt and pockets into his pockets.

“Imma borrow a hoodie too,” Toby said, picking a Red Robin hoodie off of his hanger.

“You look like you're Kon and my boyfriend,” Tim said, laughing a little bit at the end.

“I'm dating Kon,” Toby said. He paused slightly, “Probably, I don't know for sure what we are.”

“I know, he's polyamorous and so am I. He told me that you're a good kisser,” Tim said.

“Same. I mean, I’m open to dating more than one person if I have chemistry with them, but I don't really know you,” Toby said.

“I don't really know you either. But Kon likes you and he said you're smart and he was right that you're cute,” Tim said.

“Well, that's cool. I need a ride, if you guys happen to own a inconspicuous car we should probably take that,” Toby said.

“We could take the minivan,” Tim said, his voice was matter of fact.

“Sounds good,” Toby said, cuddling into the sweatshirt. It was nice and soft.

Toby took a nap as Tim drove over there. He hadn't slept much in the last day and if he was going to be doing some ass kicking he probably shouldn't do it half asleep.

 

* * *

 

“Wake up, nerd,” Tim said, shaking Toby’s shoulder.

“Hmmmmm, leave me alone,” Toby said, bringing up his hoodie and tightening it.

“Sorry, we can't. If you don't wake up I'll go in without you,” Tim said.

“I thought you said you'd stay in the car,” Toby said, carefully opening one eye to side-eye Tim.

“I lied,” Tim said.

“Fine, come on,” Toby said, drawing out the i for effect.

Tim smiled, it was soft and friendly. He grabbed a backpack out of the trunk and they headed in. After jumping the fence, they climbed into a tree, surveying the area.

“Okay, this may seem obvious, but how about we just go through the door?” Toby said.

“Are you serious?” Tim asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Dude, I've got it like all planned out,” Toby said.

“I'm the best strategist in the world, my plan is probably better,” Tim said.

“Nope, because I have information you don't therefor my plan is better and more informed,” Toby said, smirking at Tim as Tim made an unhappy noise and dropped from the tree, followed by Toby.

Toby pushed the door open, finding no resistance. His mother must either know he was coming or have something waiting for them.

The door opened into a foyer, black marble tiles lining the floor. A chandelier hung above them, in some ways it reminded Toby of Wayne Manor with its opulence. Tim was holding his bo staff close, clearly ready to strike. When Toby moved into the room, he followed behind.

“Toby, I see you've finally come to be trained,” Ruth said. Toby and Tim looked up, finding her standing at the top of the stairs. “My security alerted me you were here. You brought a friend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment.... I am a starving writer who needs more feedback...


	3. You And I, We're Not The Same

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for abuse, homophobia, and transphobia. Also mention of death and the grief around it.
> 
> Chapter title from Problems by Mother Mother

Tim turned to leave, finding all the doors shut behind them, they were trapped.

 

“Tim Wayne, Red Robin. I was expecting your sister, or maybe even your brother, but you will have to do for now,” Freelance said, walking down the stairs. Tim had to give her props, she was dramatic.

 

Toby was frozen. His face was harder than Tim had ever seen, no goofy smile or awkward attempt at showing emotion, just blankness. It seemed like everything in Toby was broken and gone. When Tim tried to grab his arm, he yanked it away. There was no malice in the movement, he just didn’t want to be touched.

 

“What are you doing?” Tim asked. He de-collapsed his bo staff, brandishing it. He was ready to fight anyone who came at him.

 

“I want my son, I want him by my side,” Freelance said. She looked at Tim, sizing him up. She looked like she was looking for a weakness.

 

“Toby can make his own decisions,” Tim said. He really wanted Toby to say something, maybe fight. Toby was a skilled fighter, especially with knives and he had at least three on him.

 

“Toby, you know I love you,” Freelance said, she was cradling Toby’s face. Cass had taught Tim enough about body language for him to know she was lying.

 

“Why?” Toby asked.

 

“Because you're my son, I want you by my side,” Freelance said, placing one hand on Toby’s shoulder. He almost melted into her touch.

 

“Really?” Toby asked, his eyes were wide and innocent, almost like he believed her.

 

“Yes, I'm your mother. Of course I love you, I've always loved you,” Freelance said.

 

The look on Toby’s face changed, morphing from the happiness to something else. There was a darkness to it that Tim had never seen.

 

“No, I won't do it. I won't kill for you. I will die before I do anything for you,” Toby said. “You never loved me when it wasn’t convenient for you.”

 

“I was afraid you’d say that. Guards, take them to basement,” Freelance said, motioning for the men to seize them.

 

The basement was about what Tim expected, a 10 by 10 cell with a locked door and limited light from the one light bulb hanging from the ceiling. They didn’t take any of Toby or Tim’s weapons, but before they were allowed in they made identical cuts on their face, collecting the resulting blood. One of the woman paused before taking an additional sample from Toby and shoving them into the room.

 

“They want us to escape,” Tim said.

 

“I know, but why,” Toby asked, he was inspecting the door, looking for an exploitable flaw.

 

“Maybe we’re more valuable to them dead than alive,” Tim said. Toby nodded before giving the door an experimental kick. It didn’t budge.

 

“Can I use your bo staff to try and get the door open?” Toby asked turning towards Tim.

 

“No, you’ll break it,” Tim said. “Use one of your knives.”

 

Toby made and unhappy noise before pulling a knife out and jamming it into the door. 

 

“I think it’s steel covered in wood,” he said when the knife hit something too hard to be wood. He grabbed the knife from it’s place stuck in the door.

 

“Why don’t you sit down? Jason has you chipped, they’ll find us soon enough,” Tim said.

 

Toby careful sat down, his back to the door. He took inventory of what he had on him. 4 knives, a grappling hook, an asthma inhaler, a box cutter, a compact rebreather, his taser boots, a window breaker, and a can of pepper spray, along with two protein bars. He opened the peanut butter one and handed the cookies and cream one to Tim.

 

“So she’s your mom,” Tim said, meticulously opening the protein bar, first opening the seam on the back.

 

“Yeah, she’s my mom. She left when I was a baby though,” Toby said.

 

Tim nodded and took a bite of the bar. His watch said it was 5:17 pm, meaning someone would be looking for them in the next few hours.

 

Tim studied the door, there wasn’t even a nob on this side of the door. The room was seemingly designed to be inescapable. There was a toilet and sink in the room that if a couple hours had passed and no one had come to find them Tim would consider using to break down the door. For now he would try to catch up on his sleep and learn a little more about Toby than what was in the Batcomputer file or what Duke and Cass could tell him. 

 

“It seems we’ll be down here for a while so do you wanna listen to some music?” Tim asked.

 

“Sure,” Toby said before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. “I’m gonna call Kon, I’d kinda prefer he come and get us than never hearing the end of it from everyone else.”

 

“Yeah same, Duke would never stop laughing at us for getting stuck in a basement cell,” Tim said, a smile playing at the edge of his lips.

 

“I’m sorry your dad died,” Toby said, his voice soft and quiet. “I don’t know what it’s like to lose a good parent, but I know what it’s like to lose someone you love and it sucks.”

 

“Yeah. Everyone else has been crying and I haven’t. I feel bad, like I’m not human y’know? I’ve never cried after tragedy though. When my mom died and I buried her, a concept of me was buried with her. I wasn’t her daughter anymore, I was her son. She wanted me to be her daughter so bad that when she died I threw my braid into her grave, she would’ve been so mad. She always went on and on about how she loved my straight, long, black hair,” Tim eventually trailed off. 

 

“That sucks. I’m sure she wasn’t too happy with the reality of you?” Toby asked. They had another half hour till Kon could get there. He was in San Francisco at the Titan’s Tower which wasn’t exactly a short fly to Gotham.

 

“No. She caught me making out with Steph when I was 14, a couple months before she died, and she flipped her shit. I wasn’t allowed to have friends over after that,” Tim said.

 

“My dad used to get off on me so I know fucked up. Your mom got the homophobic and transphobic brand of fucked up,” Toby said.

 

“She’s dead now so like, there’s something. I loved her, but still. My dad used to break my stuff when I was younger, when he was home. I remember he once got mad at me and he threw my phone so hard it shattered because I got a C on a quiz,” Tim said, leaning against the wall, his head back against it and his arms holding his knees to his chest.

 

“You know the braces I wear sometimes in the field?” Toby asked, waiting for Tim to nod. “When I was younger he sprained my wrist so often from squeezing it or jerking it around that it hurts to move it a lot. Good things I’m right handed though,” Toby said. He laughed a little at the end, the laughing quickly turned into sobs.

 

“Are you okay?” Tim asked, moving to sling an arm around Toby, when he didn’t shrink away Tim wrapped it around him.

 

“We’re so fucked up,” Toby said.

 

“Yeah, we are,” Tim said, hanging his head.

 

Eventually Toby’s sobs quieted into hiccups and he turned towards Tim. He looked at Tim and gave him a self conscious smile.

 

“Damn, that was embarrassing,” Toby said.

 

“That’s okay,” Tim said.

 

“What’s Kon’s ETA?” Toby asked, wiping away the tears left on his face.

 

“17 minutes,” Tim said.

 

“Okay,” Toby said as they fell into a comfortable silence.

 

They sat there together in the silence. They waited until they heard the sound of heavy banging on the door and scrambled away from it as the door eventually opened revealing Kon.

 

“You guys okay?” Kon asked, his smile lopsided and cute in the way that almost perfect things are cute.

 

“Yeah, we’ll be good. Is anyone still here?” Toby asked.

 

“No, I found the place empty. Seems they cleared out while you guys were down here,” Kon said. He scratched the back of his head self consciously which Toby had noticed that he did a lot. 

 

Tim nodded and once Kon moved out of the way he headed upstairs, he hoped that he found that maybe they’d gotten messy and left one or two computers for him to scan for information. Tim found nothing, all of the computers had seemingly been crushed by sledgehammers.

 

“Damn they cleaned this place out well,” Tim said. He looked around trying to find something that was still intact.

 

“I’m sorry,” Toby said, hanging his head. “I brought you into this and I didn’t give you the whole plan so I’m sorry. I fucked up.”

 

Tim screamed, throwing one of the computers against the wall. He kicked a monitor, it’s blank screen shattering under his foot. He grabbed another one of the monitors and threw it across the room, Toby managing to dodge it. Tim continued throwing the computer equipment around, eventually looking at the wreckage around him.

 

“I fucked up. I fucked up. I fucked up,” Tim said.

 

“It’s cool, you’ve lost a lot and right now you’re allowed to fuck up,” Kon said. “Can I hug you?” Tim nodded and Kon brought him in for a hug.

 

* * *

 

 

 

“I’m sorry, Dick,” Toby said.

 

“Why did you think you could do this on your own?” Dick asked, his head was in his hands. Beth was playing with Cass off in the corner.

 

“I had a plan. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt and this was the only way I could guarantee this,” Toby said.

 

“Toby, we could’ve helped you,” Dick said, he pressed a hand into Toby’s shoulder.

 

“She was my responsibility I screwed up, I’m sorry,” Toby said.

 

“You don’t have to pay for the sins of your mother,” Dick said.

 

“There’s something wrong with me. How can I be good if my family is like…  _ that! _ How can you trust me if my mom killed your father?” Toby asked, pushing Dick’s hand off of his shoulder.

 

Toby noticed the panicked look on Dick’s face. Toby had seen the look on his face before, it was the look that he had whenever Jason yelled at him. He’d remembered seeing it once when Jason had yelled at Dick for letting someone replace him.

 

“Do you remember when we first found you?” Dick said. “The first thing you did was get your sister safe, even though you though that meant separate from you. Toby, you’ve always been a good person. Your struggle has always been knowing this. Toby, I trust you because you’ve worked so hard to be good, you’ve helped so many people. Maybe you’re from evil, but you’ve become something good.”

 

“How can you not hate me, after my mom just killed your father? I couldn’t do that,” Toby said.

 

“Because what she does, isn’t and never has been your fault. Toby, you brought one of the things most precious to me into my life, you gave me Beth. I can’t hate you,” Dick said. He could see that Toby didn’t believe him.

 

“I’m sorry,” Toby said.

 

“I know,” Dick pulled Toby into a hug, he could feel Toby melt into him. After a few seconds he felt Toby’s shoulders shake and his shirt get wet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment. I should have the next fic of this series up Sunday or earlier.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm kiiiinda on the fence about this chapter so please tell me what you thought...


End file.
